


Little County, Big Problems

by My_Dear_Watson



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: F/M, Multi, The Tremors AU Only Two People Vaguely Asked For, Yes That Tremors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-04 22:50:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16355756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Dear_Watson/pseuds/My_Dear_Watson
Summary: Newly transferred from Missoula, Sheriff Whitehorse and Deputies Pratt, Hudson and Raylan are called in to assist a U.S Marshal in investigating a number of deaths and disappearances of Hope County residents. The running theory is that it's all the doing of the resident cult, except cultists are going missing or showing up dead as much as the rest of the victims. Before long, both groups have to join forces because the hunters become the hunted. And the new threat is much bigger... and hungry.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SolidHawk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolidHawk/gifts).



> The idea for this came from joking around with teamhawkeye on Tumblr/SolidHawk on here about how Burt and Heather from Tremors would've been A-OK in Hope County, and because my brain can't leave well enough alone, I decided to write the reverse, where Graboids come to Hope County and nothing is okay. As mentioned it's a Tremors AU, but also a "Cult Isn't as Bad As it is in Canon because it's Based in its Early-ish Years and There's No Reaping" AU

Deputy Nicolette Raylan hissed and tried to stretch away from her two new coworkers she was piled into the 4x4 with. 

She had barely been a Sheriff’s Deputy more than four months, so why she had been selected as the last cop from Missoula to go to Hope County was beyond her.  

Hope County was apparently a clusterfuck of _weird_ if the varying reports were any indication. There was a cult there that was up to… standard bizarre cult shit, there were reports of droves of people going missing- cult related and not. The stranger part was that most of the disappearances were the county’s cops. And then there were varying cave-ins in town that destroyed buildings and the landscape alike.   _Capital ‘W’ weird._ She glanced in front of her, at the Marshal they had picked up along the way, Cameron Burke. He had been stopping over in Missoula on his way to the county to investigate the cult and had picked up a ride with them.

The dude was an arrogant prick, and the fact that he kept on implying that the Sheriff was only on the job for the fame and glory had her stepping on the edge of his seatbelt holder at the car floor to irritate him. 

Earl Whitehorse had practically helped raise her since her teen years, and if it was one thing he hated it was people assuming he was in it for the glory, and she’d be damned if she was just going to sit by and let it happen without chipping away at the accuser’s resolve so it would be easier to let him have it later. 

“So remind us why we need all of us including the new girl?” Staci Pratt chimed in from the opposite side of their row of seats. 

Nicolette was suddenly grateful that Joey Hudson was between them- not only as a buffer between them so she couldn’t throttle the man, but also because Staci was a great deal wider than her so he had less breathing room on his side. 

It was the little things. 

“Are we there yet?” Joey cut in. 

Earl chuckled when Joey’s seatmates merely groaned. “Thank you, Hudson.” 

“Any time, Sir,” Joey replied. She looked Nicolette’s way and offered a teasing wink. 

Well, at least the girls technically stuck together. 

“And to answer the question that you were all thinkin’, yes, county limits are just beyond that tunnel there.”

There was silence for a while until they crossed through the tunnel. 

They all stopped to stare at their surroundings. 

There was a long stretch of road ahead. There were farms dotting the horizon in the distance. They passed a dirt driveway that was marked with a giant cross made of strange white flowers, with a white curtain draped over it to boot. 

“So… they’re _that kind_ of religious cult. Great,” Staci sighed. 

“Yeah, what do we know about these guys?” Joey cut in. 

“Not much. You’re right about the religious angle. Joseph Seed, man in charge- usually preaches about God, end of days and the like. Most of the time he’s all talk, which is what’s weird about all these disappearances,” Cameron replied. “They’re mostly harmless. Keep to them and theirs unless the little brother John is buying up land for their needs.” 

“Buying up land? How big is this cult?” 

“Takes up the whole county by now,” Cameron replied. “No one’s really noticed because this town’s your textbook small town. And the fact that John pays them off pretty damn well, but… there are the more… violent theories. They’ve got some weird methods.” 

They passed a road sign for “Falls End”, flanked by a billboard with that same cross, emblazened with the phrase “The Power of Yes” with “Take the Leap” directly below it. A couple of seconds later the next billboard, with some man and “We Love You” and that same cross on it.  A look in the opposite direction, and a sign was out in the hills that rivaled the Hollywood sign, loudly proclaiming “YES.” 

“Is this a cult or a reality show gag?” Nicolette chimed i n. 

Cameron scoffed. “We’re not even sure ourselves with that fucker. That’s the youngest one I was telling you about,  John Seed. You should see this place’s TV spots.” 

“TV spots? For a cult?” Staci asked. 

Cameron shrugged. “What’d I tell you? Weird methods.” 

Earl grunted in acknowledgement, then checked something on his phone. “We’ve got lodging to scope things out quietly at Drubman Marina. Says the place is just across some mountains. Guess we’re getting the whole tour on the first run.” 

And get a tour they did. It was nothing but admittedly gorgeous terrain on either side of the road, and even with the cult, Nicolette had half a mind to consider retirement in the place. 

Before long, they came to a particular turn, and one mountain came into view- with some sort of statue at its peak. 

“The Hell is that?” Staci asked. 

Cameron scoffed. “That? _Just wait_. Looks like we’re headed that way to get to the marina. You’ll see what else these crackpots are up to when we get closer.” 

Once they reached what looked like a truck stop with a giant cow statue marking its intersection, they all leaned over to get a closer look. 

“That’s a person,” Nicolette realized. 

Cameron nodded. “Joseph Seed. The Father. Fucker’s that egotistical that they built that thing in just around a month.” 

They went silent in contemplation for a while until they passed under a bridge that had more of the white flowers and a green banner with crude lettering: “Together we will march to Eden’s gate.” 

The others looked at Cameron again, who merely shrugged. “You guys are here for the missing persons and land issues. Leave the big stuff to me.” 

“Considering some of those missing persons might be related to the cult, we might… need to know some of this,” Earl pointed out, focusing on another sign proudly declaring “We Love You.” 

It was enough to make the junior deputy groan, but fall further into confusion. The Hell were these people even about? 

They had made it a little further down the road before trouble started. There was something to be said that they were in the middle of the statue’s direct eyeline when the sound of a muscle car engine broke their contemplative silence. Earl was the first to check the mirrors.

There were two cars coming up on them fast. The first was a white pickup truck with that same strange cross paintedn the doors, and the second was a hot rod red muscle car that seemed to be weaving to and fro like the driver was contemplating overtaking the pickup truck just to get to them quicker. 

“Wits about you, we might have a problem,” Earl pointed out. 

Cameron glanced in the rearview mirror, pausing to squint to get further details. He swore after a moment and slowed down. “Well, looks like we’re getting the warmest Hope County welcome as we can get.” 

“The Hell does that mean?” Joey asked. 

“ _All_ of the Seeds are directly behind us,” Cameron explained. 

It was a mere few seconds later that the pickup truck flashed their lights at them. 

Cameron sighed, rolled down the window and pulled over. “Look, let’s play this cool, we’re not here for them yet. That might buy us some wiggle room outta here.” 

“And if it doesn’t?” Earl cut in. “Why the Hell are we stopping for them when we’re the police?” 

“Because the main cops here are in this guy’s pockets and we’re in their second biggest turf right now. We have to play nice, even if we don’t mean it. For now. These guys are mostly harmless, but Joseph’s a wordsmith. Careful.” 

Nicolette looked over her shoulder at the newcomers. The pickup pulled up behind them, and again, the muscle car’s driver seemed to debate powering on ahead of them before they pulled up behind the truck. 

The driver was some albeit handsome brute that was all red hair and muscles, dressed in an old Army jacket over a t-shirt and jeans. 

The co-passenger was tall, lean, had a manbun of all things, but in stark contrast to the other, his vest, jeans and button-up that he wore were all crisp and most likely freshly ironed. It was a strange look that still just about screamed intimidation and poise all at once. It was enough that Nicolette’s trigger finger twitched on instinct. 

A young blonde woman who gave Nicolette instant hair envy got out from the backseat. She wore a white lace dress lined with flowers, and Nicolette wasn’t sure if she was going for a hippie vibe or otherwise. 

Then came the muscle car owner- shorter than Mr. Intimidating but just as lean, but it was the ridiculous jacket with a pattern littered with- were those  _ planes _ ? On a _ grown ass man _ ’s jacket? that got her. At least he was easy on the eyes to make up for it. 

The seconds it took Mr. Intimidating to reach the car ticked by like hours. He finally reached them and leaned over. 

“Officers,” the man greeted. “I don’t believe we’ve seen any of you here. Nancy didn’t tell us about any newcomers to the station.” 

“‘Cause we just arrived,” Cameron answered. 

The man nodded after a moment. “To replace the officers who went missing,” he mused. 

Nicolette and Joey exchanged puzzled looks, Staci looked up briefly, and Earl tried a little too obviously to look like he hadn’t reacted. 

“We’re not at liberty to say,” Cameron replied. 

The man nodded. “Only curious, Officer-” 

“Marshal,” Cameron corrected. 

Nicolette recognized the twitch in Earl’s jaw that indicated he was hiding a scoff. 

The man pulled back with a slow, unreadable smile of his own. “Apologies, Marshal. I meant no offense. I’m only curious because some of my own people are among those missing. We’ve reported them to your authorities to no avail.” 

“Well, that’s why we’re here, Mister…?” Earl began. 

“Seed,” the man finished. “I am Joseph, my brothers Jacob, John, our sister Faith,” he motioned to Soldier Man, Plane Man and Hippie Girl respectively. “And… you are?” 

Earl steeled himself for a moment, then sighed. “Sheriff Whitehorse, Deputies Pratt, Hudson and Raylan,” he kept Cameron’s name out after the latter shot him a warning look. 

Joseph inclined his head briefly. “You all clearly have… reservations about my people. Let me preface your time here by saying with have the utmost respect for the authorities… within reason…” 

John and Jacob both let out muted laughs. 

Joseph silenced both of them with a look and turned his attention back to the others. “You are guests on our land and will be treated as such. If we can assist you in any way, or if you need guides, my compound is just over a half mile northeast of here.” 

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Earl replied. 

Joseph nodded again, then took a step back. “Safe travels, Officers; Marshal.” He looked at the other three in the backseat. 

Nicolette tried not to make it too obvious when she noticed his eyes lingered on hers for a couple of extra seconds too long before he took another couple of steps back and straightened out. 

Cameron nodded without looking at him and rolled the window up. They all pretended they missed the hushed conversation that started between John and Jacob that they tried to get Joseph into that seemed to give off a disapproving vibe, but Joseph waved them off, and whatever counterargument he had was lost to the sound of the 4x4 engine starting up. 

“Awful friendly for a cultist,” Earl mused, dripping with sarcasm all the same. 

“You were _ awful friendly _ with him just now.” 

“Hey, we want as little suspicion as possible, you said it yourself,” Earl pointed out. 

Nicolette shot Joey another look and mouthed ‘Mom and Dad are fighting’, which earned her an elbow to the ribs. 

They drove on, and every single one of them kept checking the road behind them to make sure they hadn’t been followed. Still, they got to the Marina without any further nonsense, and all piled out of the truck, eager to stretch their legs and enjoy the first sight of the entire county that didn’t involve any Weird Shit. 

They didn’t have long to wait before a blonde woman approached them. At first she had hurried over, but upon closer inspection she slowed her walk and added a sway to her hips. “Well hello, Officers. Addie Drubman, at your service.” 

Nicolette watched Earl finalize the details of their stay in a handful of the suites- she was pretty sure she swatted his ass once he had turned to leave to distribute room keys. Cameron got his own, Earl and Staci were in another, and she and Joey got a third. Staci and Joey had made a mostly-joking point about how it wasn’t particularly fair that the Marshal got his own spot, but Earl had promised it was to keep the cases separate- and to ‘give them some space from Mr. Serious.’ He had dismissed them for the night, suggesting they all split up around the county to get leads the next morning. 

The women had been in the middle of channel surfing when they came across one of the TV spots that Cameron had mentioned.

As far as Nicolette was concerned, it was worse off with production value than most daytime television. She was pretty sure she had seen several props at the local craft store back in Missoula. But that walking Road Rage John Seed was a charismatic little shit as he talked about the cult and their goals to have everyone be loved, he’d give him that. “So… if this goes south and we all get taken in by these guys and have to be sister-wives, I vote we go with that guy.” 

Joey laughed and threw a pillow at her. “Idiot.” 

“What? You want the redhead? Because he wasn’t bad either. Hell, they were all gorgeous.” 

“I want to get out of here ASAP because this place gives me the creeps," Hudson countered. 

“Buzzkill,” Nicolette countered, and caught the second pillow that went flying her way. 

She was about to launch it back when there was a near ear-splitting animalistic roar in the distance. 

Except it didn’t sound like it had come from any animal she knew. _There was no animal large enough to roar that loudly._

S he looked at Joey again, and the woman looked just as confused as she had. 

They both shot up and headed for the door. Once they were outside, they regrouped with Earl, Staci and Cameron and a handful of the other residents who had come out to investigate as well. 

Outside of a flock of birds flying overhead, there was dead silence. It passed even a few seconds after that. No other roar, everything was silent as the grave. 

“The Hell was that?” Staci asked after even more silence passed. 

There were hushed conversations around them, one of which was one of the residents saying “Larry’s probably up to weird shit again” dismissively. 

“Larry doesn’t live out that way, idiot,” came another resident’s reply. 

Cameron, Earl and the Deputies all exchanged looks, all wondering just what the fuck they had gotten into.


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing had been discovered about the roar the previous day once everything was settled the next morning. People had heard it, but everyone was absolutely clueless and concerned, so the mystery animal had been knocked down on the list of priorities. 

As it turned out, splitting up had been a monumentally stupid idea- at least as far as Joey and Nicolette were concerned. Earl had instructed them to start in Falls End because it was the hub of the county, he had sent Staci out to the Catamount Mines where a number of the disappearances had started, and he and Cameron would head to the local prison to touch base with the other cops to see if they had missed any leads.

Addie had offered up a few cars that had been abandoned in the nearby lot, and Joey was absolutely mortified that Nicolette had chosen a bright yellow muscle car as theirs, but it got them into town without any rigmarole. 

Which, of course was where the break in the Weird stopped. 

They had started at the Spread Eagle bar to get their bearings and decided to talk to the people at the Kellet Cattle Company, who had been among the first people to cite livestock and people missing- and the apparent outright murder of a couple of cows. And then there was some man in town by the name of Zip Kupka spewing a bunch of theories on the disappearances as well as the mysterious roaring- he had an answer for it all. 

They had parted ways from there. Joey had gone to Zip’s, and Nicolette had gone to follow up on the Cattle Company lead. 

She had come to what she hoped was the halfway point between town and the other property when she spotted Mr. Poster Boy Brother (she couldn’t recall which J name he was)’s car pulled over by a telecom tower, just behind a green sports car. Upon further inspection once she drove closer, she saw the man himself yelling up at another person who was laying down on the first maintenance level of the towe. She didn’t think much of it and was ready to leave well enough alone until she saw him pull what was undoubtedly a gun from its holster at his side. She slammed the brakes on, put the car in park and hopped out. “Mister Seed, what’re you doing there?” 

Poster Boy Brother looked back at her and promptly put the gun back. “Nothing rash, I assure you, Deputy. Just… trying to get this man’s attention.” 

“I’d like to take the gun all the same,” she replied, then cringed. “... Jacob?” 

“John,” the man corrected with a scoff. He unhooked the holster from his belt and passed it over. 

“Where’s Jingleheimer?” Nicolette asked before she could stop herself. She flinched again. 

John’s sneer turned far less menacing and he let out a breath’s worth of a genuine laugh. “At his church.” He turned his attention back to the man above them- who had been suspiciously quiet the entire time. “I wasn’t trying to harm him for the record. Was just going to fire a shot to wake him.” 

She looked up as well.  “Firing a gun to wake him up?”  _ How dumb does he think I am?  _

“Well, our cars aren’t exactly the quietest, and I’ve been yelling at him the last ten minutes. That was the next loudest thing I could think of,” he countered. 

“A gun shouldn’t come to mind in that scenario at all.” 

“Well, you don’t know dear Agent Huntley,” John replied. “The temptation was a little too much.” 

“Agent?” Nicolette asked. “We weren’t told about any other law enforcement in the area-” 

“Because he likes it that way,” John answered. “He’s the reason my siblings and I are so… hesitant around your kind, I’m afraid,” John admitted. “ Huntley’s a rather paranoid special agent if I say so myself. A little too eager to _find my family guilty of any crime!_ ” he finished with a yell directed at the other man. 

There was still no reaction from the other man. 

Poster Boy looked up at the man. “It’s not the first time he’s meddled with this tower trying to interfere with our communications so he could find anything incriminating. I won’t lie to you. I saw him up there, figured I might as well take advantage of the situation.” 

She hummed, then looked up. “Sir!” 

No response. 

She looked at John, who merely crossed his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow. She sighed. There was something clearly wrong with this Huntley character, and the only way to check on him was going up. Which left her back wide open to an attack from the guy who may or may not have done something to harm the man in question. “Shit…” she hissed to herself. She sighed, then walked over to the tower and started to climb up. She made it to the platform and glanced down towards where she had left John and was equal parts relieved and concerned that he was merely looking up at her looking rather bored- but he wasn’t pulling another gun or anything, so there was that. 

She turned her attention back to Willis. He was facedown on the platform, still unmoving after everything. 

Upon further investigation, there was no indication the man had been shot- another small bit of relief for her current situation. She shook Huntley’s shoulder. “Sir.” 

Not so much as a snore. 

She huffed and grabbed him by the arm and pulled his shoulder towards her, alarmed at the dead weight- and immediately regretted thinking of that particular phrase when two very open but death-dulled eyes met hers. She let out a yelp and darted backward- and nearly had one arm slip off the platform in the process. She took a couple of seconds to collect herself, then sighed again. 

“Safe to assume he’s dead after that?” John called up.

She merely grunted and looked down. “Mister Seed?” she called. 

“Let me guess: I’m charged with the suspicion of murder. I have the right to remain silent-“

“ Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you-”

“I understand my rights. And I won’t be needing a lawyer.” 

She made it down the side of the tower. “And why is that?” 

He laughed. “You’re looking at the only one in the county.”

“... Oh.”

 

* * *

 

Staci Pratt was less than thrilled when he had barely made it to the Whitetails Park when he had gotten stopped again by the same pickup truck as last time. 

Jacob Seed had gotten out, told him that Joseph had offered their assistance in the case to help things along. 

He had accepted reluctantly, but kept his gun close when Jacob had returned to his car in order to take him to the Lumber Mill. 

They had made it there, and once people had seen a man in uniform they had swarmed him with reports of animal sounds that matched the roar from the previous night. He had promised to look into it but reminded them he was there first and foremost of the disappearances. A couple of them had cast weary looks at Jacob, and he had put his hands up and backed off to his truck. 

Things had gotten into a standstill from there. 

“It’s those cultists, I just know it.”

“Has anybody seen anybody been taken?”

“All the time. Just last night Jackson Stone decided that living Joseph’s way might not be the best thing. He tracked one of those cultists down and they picked him up an hour later.”

“Well, that sounds like it’s willing. Have they taken anybody unwillingly?”

“No, but I bet they would!”

It had been about ten different variations of that until Staci had enough. He had politely excused himself and then gone back towards his truck. He spotted Jacob’s truck’s door open, and the man himself disappearing into the woods beside the Mill. He squared his shoulders and headed after him. 

“Mister Seed?” he called after a while. He finally caught up to him and found him kneeling just by a hill.

Jacob put his hand up to silence him. “You hearing those rumors about those animal calls?”

“Yeah?”

He pointed ahead of them, where there was part of the ground that had collapsed and led to a cave. “Looks promising.” He eased himself into the channel in the ground in order to get a better look at it.

Staci blanched before hurrying after him. 

They both stared when what they first assumed was a cave turned out to be a tunnel, easily seven feet across and up. It was perfectly rounded off, but there was no trace of people having carved it out themselves- no axes around, no wooden supports, just a perfect cylinder. 

Staci glanced at the sides that had strange horizontal lines running across it. He suddenly felt extremely small in comparison to whatever this mystery beast was. “Any idea what animal could cause that?”

“No idea. I just work with wolves,” Jacob answered. 

“What do you do with the wolves?” Staci asked, more to distract himself from the sense of dread he was getting from the tunnel. 

“Rehabilitation.” 

Staci blinked a couple of times, then once he realized Jacob was leaving it at the one word answer, he nodded slowly. “Right.” It was just as well. Trying to play friendly with a suspect was bound to go wrong. He heard his phone ring and picked it up without checking the caller, grateful for the second distraction. “Pratt.” 

“Stace, it’s Nic. We’ve got another body.” 

“Where?” he asked. 

There was a muted conversation in the background, and he was fairly concerned when he didn’t recognize the other voice. She came back a moment later. “Purpletop Telecom Tower. You can see it from Falls End.” 

“How’d they go?” 

“No idea. No wounds of any kind. Heart attack, maybe? We’re gonna need a medical examiner.” 

“Any suspects?” 

“One. The public’s gonna go crazy about it.”

Staci jumped when there was suddenly a shadow directly beside him. 

“So, safe to assume the suspect is one of my siblings, then?” Jacob called, right next to the phone. 

“ _... Who is this?”_ Nicolette asked. 

“Jacob Seed.”

Staci watched the man smirk when she cursed under her breath, then, after a moment. 

“ _... Stace, are you okay?_ ” 

“He’s fine. Joseph sent me to be his guide. Might I ask why my brother is a suspect?” 

“ _None of your damn concern-_ ” 

“I was preparing to make a point to Willis Huntley since I found him up on the tower!” came John’s voice in the background. “She saw me yelling and preparing to fire a shot to wake him  up because I thought he was passed out- turns out he was dead!”

Staci huffed and put the phone’s volume up and held it horizontally between himself and Jacob. Because why the Hell not do stuff that probably went against the book concerning suspect treatment when they were already this deep?

Jacob sighed. “Well, I suppose that makes sense. My brother’s an idiot, Deputy, but he’s not a murderer.” 

“I’ll let the results we find about how the man died be the judge of that,” she countered. 

Jacob nodded. “Fair enough. Has my brother informed you about being a lawyer yet?” 

“Twice. Seems to think using different wording is somehow going to make me believe it harder, even if I already do and told him as much. While I have you here, was your brother with you for most of the day yesterday?”

“Yes. After we…  _ greeted you _ and your people, we went back to my brother’s Compound. He had a service, and then we stayed for dinner. I can give you names for witnesses, if you’d like.” 

“I’ll skip that for now. Wouldn’t want anybody thinking  _ I’m assuming guilt _ , here.” 

Jacob’s smirk grew and the look in his eye turned damn near predatory, though there was something admiring in there, too. It set Staci off enough to bring the phone back to his own ear. “I think the mortician’s still at the prison. Can you drop the body off?” 

“Well, getting him down is gonna be a problem, first off.” 

“What?” 

“See for yourself.” 

Staci’s phone buzzed a moment later, and he received a photo of the Willis person- at least fifty feet up on a platform on the tower. “Ah.” 

“I’ll call the Boss, tell him to bring him here.” 

“Sounds good.” 

“What’re you gonna do with Seed?” Staci asked. 

“Take him in for a while once the report about this guy’s death are in, see what he has to say about the details, cross check everything.” 

“Meet you at the station in a bit?” 

“See you there,” Nicolette replied, and then her line went dead. 

Staci pocketed his phone then looked at Jacob. “Outside of livestock, have there been any deaths or murders? With you c- people, or otherwise?”

“Ooh, good recovery,” Jacob replied, dripping with sarcasm. “And no, just disappearances. Mostly around my sibling’s compounds more than mine. Always thought it was strange, but maybe they just know you don’t fuck with me or my people.” 

Staci wasn’t sure if that was a shitty attempt of deflection, or offering up a genuinely useful lead.  “I think I can get back to the station from here on my own. Thanks for the assistance to get here.” 

Jacob nodded. “Sure thing, Peaches. Take care of my brother when you handle this.” 

Staci opened his mouth, not exactly sure where to start- the name or the underlying threat there. Still, Jacob had a good few inches and easily thirty pounds on him,  so he wasn’t going to go fishing for trouble when he didn’t need to. Yet. He shut his mouth, nodded, got into his truck and drove off. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror to see if Jacob had followed, but just like the last time, the coast was clear. 

 

* * *

 

When Staci got back to the station, he wasn’t sure what to think when he saw Nicolette, Earl and the Marshal all crowded into one spot in the bullpen, while the youngest Seed brother sat across from them at another desk. His desk. He jabbed a finger at him- _John, was it?_  “Why is he here? Shouldn’t he be in a room?” 

“Because he has been cleared of suspected charges, and is also his own laywer,” John replied. 

Staci frowned at Earl. “We got results back?” 

Earl nodded. “This Willis character died of thirst up there.” 

“Thirst? Town’s less than a quarter mile away, he couldn’t just get down?”  Staci asked. 

“Exactly,” Earl agreed. “So what kept a paranoid man a hundred feet off the ground with easy access to a ladder in that exact spot long enough to die?” he looked at John. 

The younger man shrugged. “I’ve got better things to do than keep him from reaching the ground. He was a nuisance, but the man didn’t deserve to die for it. Get scared a little, yes, but… not that. And… he wasn’t one to be that scared of something to just… give up like that, either.” 

Earl crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “Alright. Guess we’re back to square one. Mister Seed, you’re free to go.” 

“Thank you,” John replied, though clearly he meant the opposite. He got up. 

Earl gave Nicolette a sideglance and nodded at him. 

She gave him an incredulous look back. 

Earl shifted in his seat so John couldn’t see him point to him, then point around the place. He mouthed ‘make sure he doesn’t snoop for the cult,’ 

Nicolette hugged again and got up. “I’ll walk you out.” 

“You’re going to have to do more than that. You do remember we left my car behind in your haste to arrest me.” 

She opened her mouth to protest and cast Earl another glance. 

The man merely offered a small, apologetic smile. 

She turned sharply and motioned at him to follow her. 

John frowned at her, then shrugged. “Fine.” He moved so she could get up and walk on ahead of him. 

They made it out and she ushered him into her car. 

John, however, wasn’t done giving her shit yet. “This car police issue?” 

“When it’s all we can get at the time? Yes.” 

The rest of the ride was thankfully silent. That was, until they turned the corner onto the road the tower was on, and John noticed something. 

“Where’s my car?” he asked as they pulled to a stop just across where they had left it the first time. He got out of the car, immediately looking around frantically. 

Nicolette swore under her breath and got out of the car. She knew this was going to be her fault somehow. Someone had probably stolen the damn thing when they were gone. Which made no damn sense, considering hers was still there, a few feet away. “Did you lock the doors?” 

“Of course I locked the doors!” John snapped. 

“I’m just _asking_.” 

“It was right here, there’s no sign of glass anywhere, where the Hell could it have gone?” 

“Thieves get creative, look, give us the information, we can- hold on…” she spotted tire treads branching off the side of the tarmac. “Look there.”

John snarled and followed the tracks, then promptly stopped short for some reason. 

Nicolette sighed. “What? Did it get t-boned when we were gone?” she jogged across the street to join him and see just what had made the man freeze. 

His car was nearly totaled, wedged evenly inside a giant crater in the ground that had most definitely not been there a couple of hours prior. First off, how the Hell had it gotten there? Second, how the Hell did his car get into such a tight space, third:  _ What the actual fuck?   _ She saw John turn around, probably trying to figure out the answer to the first question. “Okay, well we can get some people to dig the car out and then tow it to-” 

“Snake,” John cut her off. 

She scoffed. “Oh, charming. Name-calling. Why? Because I had to take you away from here under suspicion of murder-” 

“No,  _ snake _ ,” John insisted.

She turned around sharply, only to feel John grab her around the middle and yank her backward against him. She was about to elbow him in the dick to drive her point home until she spotted the ground directly ahead of them- where there was a literal snake. 

But no snake that she had seen before. It didn’t have eyes, had strange little antennae sticking out of its snout, was a consisted pinkish brown color- and it was fucking gigantic- and rearing back to attack them, by the looks of it. “SHIT!” she scrambled back, inadvertently closer into John, and when the snake lunged, she kicked out at it at instinct. She made contact, but it recovered- and promptly sunk its teeth into her leg. And she was sure as fuck felt more than four fangs total. She shrieked, but it was cut short when the snake started to pull back with enough strength that she started to _ go with it.  _

John’s weight at her back was suddenly gone and she barely had a moment to manage to think ‘go figure’ when there was the sound of at least one gunshot, but the second and the ones beyond that were lost to a ringing that had stared up in her ears. Still, she could see bullets hit the snake, and it let go of her and reared back- until a couple of more bullets did the trick and ripped the damn thing in half. 

She wasn’t sure what to think when half of the body slumped over in a heap but the last half retreated directly into the ground _like it was still alive_. 

_ So much for the “cut off the head” theory.  _

She was in shock enough that she could barely register John’s weight returning to her back and him shoving her out of the ditch from before that they had fallen into- just in time for there to be a metallic creak that made it through the ringing haze- and then suddenly the car was gone, having fallen directly into the ditch- that was now apparently an entire hole. The ground around it caved in to seal it in the next few seconds. 

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?” she hissed. She turned to John. 

“I’ve got… no idea,” she saw John reply. 

She swallowed hard and looked him, and then at her .44, still firmly in his hand with his finger still on the trigger, albeit he had the gun pointed down. “What the fuck,” she repeated. She looked at her belt and found her holster empty. The bastard had taken it in the confusion. The ringing finally started to fade- probably her brain doing her a favor after all of the excitement. 

He shrugged. “I had a few lessons as a kid. Guess it stuck,” he mused.

“As a kid?” she asked. 

“Our father was a piece of work. We all wanted to be prepared,” John deadpanned. When her answering frown deepened, he held the gun back out to her. “You’re welcome, by the way.” 

“Sorry. For not saying thanks. And the car. So Thanks,” she looked back at the corpse of the snake- or part of it, anyway. “What the fuck?” she repeated. 

“Look at me,” John instructed, and suddenly he was in her space again, hand firmly on her jaw. “How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Woozy? Can you feel everything right now?” 

“Leg hurts like a fucking bitch, but nothing else. Could just be the shock, though.” 

“Can you walk?” John asked. 

“No idea,” she stood up straight to test it, and immediately crumpled, not surprised but annoyed as all Hell when John caught her. “No, no I can’t.” 

“Keys, then?” John asked. 

“Back pocket,” she reached behind her delicately and produced them. 

John took them in one hand, then ducked under her arm in order to stretch it across his shoulders. “Eyesore, it is.” 

“Where are we going?” 

“Town, so we can call your people and get your leg looked at,” John replied. He looked around the car, found what he was looking for and pulled a lever. The trunk of the car popped open, and he disappeared for a minute. There was a loud thud, the trunk closed, and suddenly he was back. He started the car and exhaled sharply. 

“If I wake up in any cult compounds, I’ll know who the Hell stabbed me in the back to match with this fucking bite wound.” 

“Not a cult,” was John’s only reply. 

It did nothing to ease her already frayed nerves, but she couldn’t focus long enough to actively care. 

Still, when they rolled into Falls End within a couple of minutes, she realized she had gotten her first break since they got there. 

Joey came out of the Spread Eagle within seconds. “Hey, Rook-” she stopped short when John stepped out of the car first. “What?” she muttered. When John crossed to the co-passenger side and helped Nicolette out again, the other woman merely blinked. “What?” she repeated, then scrambled to catch Nicolette when John practically threw her at her. She spotted the injury. “What…?” she watched John pop the trunk and carry the strangest looking snake she had ever seen into the house across the way. “What,” she concluded. 

“That’s… what I said,” Nicolette pointed out. 

“What the Hell did I miss?” Joey asked. 

“A lot. Dude died of thirst half a mile that way,  the ground ate John’s car, giant ass fucking snake tried to eat us. Tell you what, if this is the ‘normal’ here, I’m fucking quitting.” 

“You and me both,” Joey agreed. 

A few moments later, John came out of the house and ushered them across the street and inside, already distracted on the phone, talking to someone. 

It was going to be a long, interesting day. That much was certain. 

  
  
  



End file.
